


White Dress

by Dis_connect



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-28
Updated: 2014-05-28
Packaged: 2018-01-26 21:01:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1702397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dis_connect/pseuds/Dis_connect
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's around midnight when you lose yourself, just for a minute or two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	White Dress

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by The Airborne Toxic Event: Sometime Around Midnight
> 
> It's sad and for that I'm sorry.

It's rare that she's out so late these days but with midnight creeping up and her third swallow of bourbon warming her belly, Regina's pretty sure Time can go fuck itself.  
  
She stares into the crowd, looking through and past the mass of bodies packed into one of three of Storybrooke's finest drinking establishments.  There was a brief expansion after the town joined the real world and after the Rabbit Hole, the Room of Doors became Storybrooke's second most-frequented bar.  It is, remarkably, more upscale and boasts more room for dancing and with enough demand that two bartenders work the entire night.   
  
The lights dim to blue and some soft piano comes over the speakers, calling to couples and the daring.  Regina ignores the tourists and college upstarts in favor of swallow four but it nearly chokes her when a flash of white breaks through the dark.  Her vision sharpens and her head reels alarmingly.  For a moment, her hands tremble and she wonders at the potency of her drink but, no.    
  
There she is.  
  
It's been...a long time but Regina is riveted as ever, drinking in the fall of blonde curls and long, pale legs.  Her eyes consume what her hands and mouth can't.  Emma is in a white dress.  **The** white dress.  The one that shows legs and strong arms and such a long scoop of back....Regina sucks in a breath.    
  
God, it means so many things (I love you, I promise, forgive me, now, Regina, _please!_ ) that Regina's stomach knots with desire and pain.  Why tonight?  She tries another swallow of bourbon but nothing changes and so Regina breathes shallow around the jagged shape of her heart.  
  
Emma's eyes sparkle in the dark and she weaves around shadowed dancers, laughing and turning, turning, turning until the very edge of that precious white dress ghosts over Regina's arm and she shivers head to toe.  She can smell the blonde's perfume and memory of a thousand frenzied nights and softer sunrises washes over her.  It's salt in her wounds and Regina draws her hands into fists to keep them from shaking.  
  
"Hey, are you alright?"  
  
"Regina?  Christ, you look like you've seen a ghost!"  
  
Kathryn and Ruby's voices come from a great distance.  They reach for her but Regina leaves the booth, pale and unsteady as she chases Emma into the dancing shades.  Emma giggles and taunts and leaves on the arm of some young transient and Regina lunges after them.  She likes to tease, to flirt and stir Regina's jealousy but that night the brunette can't abide it.  It's been too long.  She desperately needs to touch and taste and peel that ethereal dress from smooth, smooth skin.  So she gives chase.  
  
Under the street lights, the transient is gone but Emma is there, just ahead, just out of reach.  Regina forgets car and coat and walks, the ground unsteady around her.  Emma looks back and smiles and she is always **just** out of reach.  Regina chokes on a sob and breaks into a run.  
  
  
  
xxx  
  
  
  
It's Henry that finds her.    
  
Henry who moved back home in spite of his growing successes ("Really, it's fine, mum.  I can write from anywhere.  That's the beauty of this job!") because he loves his mother and one day heard something in her voice that called him back.  He's been back in Storybrooke for six months, long enough to celebrate the winter holidays, keep the sidewalks shoveled, and come up with half an outline for his next book while watching the snow melt.    
  
He has not been back long enough to acknowledge the possibility of losing his second mother.  
  
He finds his mom in bed, clutching a very special white dress that belonged to Emma - Emma that had died five years prior in such a violent accident, they were forced to cremate what remains they could recover.    
  
Henry kisses his mom's cool forehead and goes to her study where he sits for several long, quiet minutes and runs through a thousand scenarios where his mom would just...wake up.  When the knowing that she never would settles in, Henry barely manages to make the call to the hospital before breaking down.


End file.
